Crazy commuters, stray swans and rubberneckers: a day in the life of the M50

Kim Bielenberg spends a day with the teams who work 
to keep traffic flowing on Ireland’s busiest motorway and hears about the biggest threats to drivers’ safety

The M50 - A Crash Course

Kim Bielenberg

Ryan Mulroy lives life in the fast lane. And on the hard shoulder. From 7am to 7pm, he works on the M50 as part of the incident support unit that responds rapidly to crashes, breakdowns, overturned trucks, fires and whatever else the day brings.

In 2023, there were 5,400 incidents on Ireland’s most storied highway, including 737 crashes. One third of all of collisions on the motorway network take place on this road and yet, statistically by traffic volume, it is one of the country’s safer roads.